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Los Seis Hombres head to Baja!

bigjohnsd

'21 R1250 GS Adv
Los Seis Hombres:
  • BigJohnSD - El miembro senior - R1250 GS ADV
  • Mark - Un viejo amigo de la marina (an old Navy Buddy) - R1250 GS HP
  • Skooter G - El propio señor Booger (Mister Booger himself) - R1200 GS Adv
  • FrankieD - Un tipo en camino a poseer más bicicletas que Abercrombie FJR (A guy on the road to own more bikes than Abercrombie FJR) - R1200 GS Adv (old)
  • Abercrombie FJR - nuestro token de Dakota del Norte (our token North Dakotan) - Yamaha S10 (Yes he will catch ****)
  • Dean - un amigo mío del grupo Black Hills BMW Riders (a friend of mine from the Black Hills BMW Riders group) - R1200 GS

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From 2018 @ Rice & Beans Cantina L-R Abercrombie, Frankie D, Kip Walker (not able to go this year), Mark, BigJohnSD.

The Plan:
A serendipitous ride from Tucson down Baja California as far South as Los Barilles BC Sur (between LaPaz and Cabo san Lucas).

The Reality: The original "plan" was "no plan" Eat Tacos and Drink Cerveza.
Then people started asking questions and expressing doubts (he will remain nameless to protect the still-working engineer) so now we have some waypoints and reservations:

March 4th - Organ Pipe Cactus National Park - the rendezvous point, hope it warms up!
March 5th - San Felipe BC- Motel
March 6th - Bahia de Los Angeles (BOLA) Beach House and Palapa
March 7th - TBD
March 8th - TBD
March 9th - Los Barilles Motel
March 10th - Los Barilles Motel
March 11th - TBD
March 12th - TBD
March 13th - TBD
March 14th - TBD
March 15th - TBD
March 16th - Cross back into Estados Unidos and beat feet for Tucson & Phoenix.

Some places we might go/see/stop on the way down and back:
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The Pre-Departure Report:

AbercrombieFJR heads from Fargo to Spearfish tomorrow (Feb 28th) towing his bikes,
Hopefully, we will have none of these hijinks this year

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picks me up and we set forth bright and early Wednesday 01 March (of course, snow is in the forecast).
01 March - @ Kip's in Alamosa CO.
02 March - PM Arrive in Phoenix, unload at Skooter's, and unload the trailer.
03 March - Abercrombie and I ride to Tucson
04 March - Abercrombie, Frankie D, Mark, and I ride to Organ Pipe and camp
05 March - Dean joins Abercrombie, Frankie D, Mark, and me for the ride to San Felipe,
Skooter to join at the motel in San Felipe

SPOTWALLA Track here - https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/619b-6c38cf-25b4/view goes active on March 4th.

Next Update - San Felipe if all goes well
 
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:evil: We left Ajo at 0900 rode South through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We crossed the border at Louisville AZ/Sonoyta, Sonora, MX this morning about 1000. Crossing was painless, it took us about 20 minutes to complete the required FMM validation paperwork. We then headed West on MX-2 skirted Mexicali to the South and rode South on MX-5 to San Felipe, arriving at 1545. We are staying at the Las Palmas Hotel, A "gringo friendly" establishment with an Italian restaurant attached. We ate in the restaurant and had a great meal.

A few photos from today:

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Today's travels Ajo, AZ to San Felipe BC Norte, MX.

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Lunch at San Luis de Colorado - Street Taco shop

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The Las Palmas in San Felipe

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Celebrating

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Seis Hombres gathered around the table.

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Yes, good Italian Food in Baja - Oso Buco for the win!

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A pretty good "Carbonara" as well.

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Finished with a fine Reposada!

Tomorrow an easy day to Bahia de Los Angeles.
 
An easy day day today - Monday.
San Felipe South on Mex-5, then South on Mex-1 to Mex-12 and then East to Bahia de Los Angeles.

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We rode this same route in 2018 and Mex-5 was not paved like it was today. What took us 9 hours in 2018 took 4 hours today. Much more pleasant.

We breakfasted on the San Felipe Malecon
I enjoyed Scrambled eggs and Chorizo (tasted much better than it looks here)
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Next stop was at the Mex-5/Mex-1 junction where we stopped for refreshment.
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As we headed South on Mex-1 we passed through big cactus forests
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And the desert flowers were really in bloom.

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The Tenere and the two regular GS's were short of fuel so we stopped at the Mex-1/Mex-12 junction for some "Barrel Gas"

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Soon after a quick 78km we arrived at our Bahia de Los Angeles accommodation - Campo Archelon. The view from the deck is outstanding.
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Skooter, Dean, and Mark are in this structure

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Kevin - Abercrombie FJR - and his short legged Tenere.

Tomorrow we head to San Ignacio and will likely stay at the famous "Rice & Beans" waypoint.

More tomorrow.
 
Bahia de Los Angeles to the World Famous - "Ricardo's Rice and Beans" a long favored stop and watering hole in San Ignacio BC Sur.
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We enjoyed a seaside breakfast before departure

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And were KSU at 0900.

We enjoyed a traffic free and spirited 78 km ride from BdLA to the junction with Mex-1. Quite a bit more traffic on Mex-1. Of note, the Mexican truck drivers are quite courteous.
We enjoyed several "rabbits" that passed us along the way, there are no shoulders on most of the highway and the posted speed limits are between 60 and 80 kph. Few locals seem to observe the limits. We kept up with traffic.

As we neared the Pacific side of BC the terrain changed from Rocky desert to sandy desert.

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We stopped briefly for fuel at Guerrero Negro, the Northern border of BC Sur.
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I'm not sure why this Monument is at the border?

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Tomorrow a run to Muleje, possibly a stop at BDCW South, a break at Bahia de Concepcion, a brief visit to yhe famous Gustav Eifle Iton Chirch in Rosario and then on to Loreto for the evening.

Stay tuned - More from Loreto tomorrow night.
 
San Ignacio to Loreto via Muleje and Bahia Concepcion, with a Tyler sighting along the way.

KSU from Rice and Beans at 0745 for downtown San Ignacio and breakfast on the square.

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The first few k's were pretty straight
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But eventually a Volcano appears in the distance
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Somewhere along here about 1000 we saw Tyler headed North on her CanAm Spider "Sybil" we had tried to arrange a meal together but timing just didn't work this time.

We stopped in Muleje for gas and to check out the Mission and the Date Palms - A real Oasis!
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The doors were locked, they must have known SkooterG was in town.
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Dean took a break in the shade.

We lunched along Bahia Concepcion

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This rock field looked like "Art"
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After arrival in Loreto, our house is a block off the main square,
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we toasted another successful day once again cheating death.

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After showers we headed to town for some sustenance, we got as far as the square before a kind Canadian women recommended a p!ace. She did well.

After Beers and Margheritas some Fish Tacos, Shrimp Tacos, Nachos and other delectable things soon sated our hunger. We celebrated Abercrombie FJR's fictitious birthday, he enjoyed his free cake and the singing waiters concert.

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Tomorrow a 250 mile run to Los Barilles , possibly lunch in La Pad with Ralph Mumbai and a Hotel non the beach for two nights.
 
Thanks for the report. Friends were down in that area on bikes a couple weeks ago and they rarely had wifi at the places they stayed to report back.
 
Thursday - 9 March 2023 - we have reached the Southern terminus of our trip.

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Los Barilles is a very "Anglified" town but still beautiful. Our rooms at Martin Berdugo's Beach Club are perfect for us, three beds per room, 50 feet from the pool and 65' from the beach.

The Sunset
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was fantastic and the Moon rise equaled the Sunset

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We started our day at Loreto Islas Restaurant for a great breakfast. Right on the Malecon, the Islas was just as good in 2023 as it was on our last visit in 2018. The food remains excellent.
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After breakfast we saddled up and headed South
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Lots of agriculture as we approached Ciudad Insurgentes.
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We fueled machines and topped up rider fluids in Ciudad Constitution. First VP Gas station I've encountered.

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The place we lunched at in 2018 is apparently closed
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We stopped just North of LaPaz for lunch with an old FJR friend (BikerSkier)Ralph Jumago and his wife Mary Anne. They are cruising around Baja in their motor home.
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Two hours after leaving the traffic of LaPaz we arrived at our Los Barilles accommodation and found our room just feet from the pool and the beach.
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We walked a few blocks to dinner at Smokes - Great Fish and Cups and Fish Tacos but near American prices in this very American town.
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Tomorrow the younger members plan on making a run up the beach road while the older and wiser members plan on relaxing by the pool and watching the waves.

Saturday morning we will head North towards Guerro Negro and some whale watching. Next update Saturday night.
 
Younger = 70 and below!

New destination tomorrow is Adolpho Lopez Mateos for an early Sunday whale watching expedition then on to Muleje for Sunday evening.
 
Bahia Tortuga is remote Baja Mexico. It was just over 100 miles from Vizcaino to Bahia Tortugas through desert, sand drifts across the road, salt flats, rugged mountains , with a few cows along the road thrown in for good measure.

Before turning West we passed the "Three Virgins" vo!cano.
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After an ice cream cone in Vizcaino we headed West!

Crossing Salt Flats
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Desert with sand blowing across the road - not fun to hit a little drift at 75-80 mph.

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We eventually arrived at th "Hotel Nancy" cost $120 dollars for four rooms 😃 not fancy, but Ernesto and his wife offer good clean rooms in an aged facility.

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We ate dinner at the only place that was open in town, "Loncheria Tower" the lady that runs the place has two cute Chihuahua dogs, she prepared a dinner for us, Carne Asada, Papas Fritas, beans, salad, and fresh tortillas. Six of us ate and and drank for 600 pesos. She ran across the street for beer and coca lite too.

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You may wonder why Abercrombie is sitting masked by himself......He is in isolation.......

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We departed Bahia Tortugas this morning at 0730 breakfasted at a Vizcaino taco stand

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and altered our planned route home due to projected inclement weather forecast for Ensenada and North on the Pacific side. Instead we returned up Mex-5 to San Felipe.

Once again the desert was in bloom
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We made a brief stop along the highway
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If you look closely you will see someone out in the cactus banks

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Squatting in a cactus patch doesn't seem like a sound idea to me but....when you've got to go😦

A little more desert up Mex-5 and we once again hit the Gulf of California

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Our route today

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Tomorrow we ride together North to Medical and East on Mex-2, SkooterG and Dean B will break off at Yuma and Sonoyta respectively, Frank, Mark, Kevin and I will head to an Air BnB in Puerto Penasco for a final night in Mexico. Then cross back into Estados Unidos on Thursday and head to Tucson and Phoenix. Abercrombie and I will then load up and head for Big Bend to join up with some friends for five more days of riding.
 
Gorgeous country. Looking forward to seeing you in the Big Bend of Texas!

Voni
sMiling
 
We left San Felipe under cloudy skies about 0900.

The road North towards Mexicali is straight until you hit the mountains, a few curves snd you reach the Colorado River Irrigated agricultural basin North of the Sea of Cortez/Gulf of California.
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Todays ride.

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Heading North from San Felipe before crossing the Laguna Salada, the mountains in the background.

Shortly after turning East onto Mex-4 we crossed what remains of the Colorado River.

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Dean and SkooterG broke off at noon after a short refreshment stop in Guerro at the junction of Mex-3 and Mex-4.

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Vaya con dios mi Amigos!

Frank, Mark, Kevin and I continued on to Puerto Penasco along the East side of the Gulf of California.

This area is a "bio-reserve", desert, sand from the gulf, sand drifts, on the roads and evidence of earlier storm related flooding bin every wash and arroyo.

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you can just see the gulf waters in the background.

We found our nice third floor condo in Puerto Penasco, dumped our stuff and headed out for supper not having eaten any lunch.

We found a steakhouse close to the condo and enjoyed an AL Fresco supper.


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I scored a home run with the braised pork leg/shank! #1!

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Tomorrow we head straight North to Sonoyta, cross into the good old USA and after a short stop in Ajo AZ for lunch, Kevin and I will head to Phoenix while Mark and Frank head towards Tucson.

Total trip - so far 2700 miles.


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More tomorrow from Phoenix
 
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